Editorial: Governor, take it to the legislators

Monday

Jun 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMJun 29, 2009 at 7:02 PM

Dear Governor Quinn, Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said this past week he will not call a vote on a constitutional amendment to allow the recall of the governor unless you sign the loophole-laden, incumbent-protecting campaign finance bill passed by the House and Senate. We know you cherish the idea of having recall put into the Illinois Constitution. It’s part of the reason you agreed to support the bogus contribution limits in the campaign finance bill. But your response to Cullerton ought to be, “Fine. Both are a sham, anyway.”

Dear Governor Quinn,

Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said this past week he will not call a vote on a constitutional amendment to allow the recall of the governor unless you sign the loophole-laden, incumbent-protecting campaign finance bill passed by the House and Senate.

We know you cherish the idea of having recall put into the Illinois Constitution. It’s part of the reason you agreed to support the bogus contribution limits in the campaign finance bill. But your response to Cullerton ought to be, “Fine. Both are a sham, anyway.”

It’s time for you to be the governor you’ve always wanted to be.

The man you replaced, Rod Blagojevich, billed himself as a reformer when he first ran in 2002. We didn’t suspect him then of the deep corruption of which he’s been accused. But even then, we knew he was kind of a phony.

Eventually, as Blagojevich barnstormed the state blathering about how he was a champion for children and working families even as federal prosecutors closed in on him, we knew for sure.

We can’t say that about you. Yet. You have fought for reforms your entire life. When it comes to ethics and the state budget, it’s time for you to take it to this do-nothing General Assembly.

Start by admitting your own mistakes. You made a big one in May when you testified with House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, in favor of House Bill 7, the campaign finance “reform” bill.

That bill would leave intact a campaign contribution system in which the legislative leaders can dole out unlimited amounts of cash, thereby keeping a firm chokehold on their members.

You ought to veto that bill and promise the people of Illinois you won’t stop until legislators pass real reforms.

Leave recall on the table, governor. You know it’s a far cry from the constitutional amendment you want, in which the people alone could recall any officeholder they think has done wrong.

First of all, the version Cullerton is holding up applies only to the governor. Second, it requires the consent of 20 members of the House and 10 members of the Senate, with no more than half from each political party. We disagree with the entire concept, but you know in your heart that this is “recall light.”

After you veto House Bill 7, you should veto any budget legislators send you that is unbalanced.

No six-month budget. No lump-sum budget in which you take the blame for cuts. No pension notes, which just borrow money to pay the pensions and put the debt off to the future. Why would anyone lend this state money in the first place?

No real person living through this recession gets by with such financial subterfuge. No real person would keep their job in this recession having a job performance as terrible as these legislators.
Today, governor, you look weak. You have a new position on the budget every day. Madigan and Cullerton have rolled over you since February. The two Republican legislative leaders, Christine Radogno and Tom Cross, are now taking their turn at this game of chicken.

Conventional wisdom amongst the chattering crowd at the Capitol is that the public will blame you for a government meltdown. That’s not what happened in 1995 when President Bill Clinton stared down then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich over a bad federal budget.

Like the presidency, the governorship comes with a bully pulpit. If legislators take this to the brink, surround yourself with the people they’re going to hurt.

How many TV cameras will show up when a legislator tries to blame you for this mess?

And how many do you think will show up when you go to Oswego or Lemont or Springfield or Chicago’s north and south sides to explain how their spinelessness has hurt people?

Nobody can accuse you of being Blagojevich. You’ve been in Springfield working on the budget. Blagojevich is gone. The result is still the same: Gridlock. Cowardice. Avoidance of tough decisions. What does that tell us about legislators?

Hit the accelerator, governor. Drive right at them. All that’s at stake is our state.

State Journal-Register

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